An Internet hosting service is a service that runs Internet servers, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content to the Internet. There are various levels of service and various kinds of services offered.
A common kind of hosting is web hosting. Most hosting providers offer a combined variety of services. Web hosting services also offer e-mail hosting service, for example. DNS hosting service is usually bundled with domain name registration.
Web hosting technology has been causing some controversy lately as Web.com claims that it holds patent rights to some common hosting technologies, including the use of a web-based control panel to manage the hosting service, with its 19 patents. Hostopia, a large wholesale host, recently purchased a license to use that technology from web.com for 10% of retail revenues. Web.com recently sued Go Daddy as well for similar patent infringement.[1]
Generic, yet rather powerful, kinds of Internet hosting provide a server where the clients can run anything they want (including web servers and other servers) and have Internet connections with good upstream bandwidth.
Contents |
| Types of Internet hosting service |
|---|
| Full-featured hosting |
| Virtual private server · Dedicated hosting · Colocation centre · Cloud hosting |
| Web hosting |
| Free hosting · Shared · Clustered · Reseller |
| Application-specific web hosting |
| Blog (comments) · Guild hosting · Image · Video · Wiki farms · Application · Social network |
| By content format |
| File · Image · Video · Music |
| Other types |
| Remote backup · Game server · DNS · E-mail |
Full-featured hosting services include:
Limited or application-specific hosting services include:
Internet hosting services include the required Internet connection; they may charge a flat rate per month or charge per bandwidth used — a common payment plan is to charge for the 95th percentile bandwidth.